Chapter Fifty-Eight

It was enough to buy a hundred-square-meter apartment in the city center of Changnan back in 2007.

Though Xijiang Province was relatively underdeveloped economically, its population of over five million meant there was no shortage of wealthy individuals. As a result, Yuwen Private High School’s annual enrollment quota was always in high demand. To maintain student quality, since its founding in the second year after the nation’s establishment, Yuwen Private High School had never expanded its admissions—remaining steadfast for fifty-seven years, taking in exactly six hundred students each year.

First Year Division, Class A, Yuwen Private High School.

The bell signaling the end of the fourth morning lesson rang out. Students bustled about, packing their things, preparing to head home.

Yun Yuan, a boarding student, was in no rush to tidy up. He sat at his desk, diligently working on homework. His thick eyebrows arched ever so slightly in a rebellious tilt; beneath long, gently curled lashes were eyes as clear as morning dew. Those pronounced brows softened into gentle ripples, as if always carrying a hint of a smile—delicate arcs reminiscent of a crescent moon against the night sky.

His nose was straight and elegant, his lips pink as rose petals. Fair skin set off the subtle blush of his lips, his striking features forming a face of refined beauty. He had just turned sixteen, and to say Yun Yuan’s looks rivaled those of legendary beauties was no exaggeration.

Yet, in 2007, the internet was nothing like the all-consuming force it would become, so Yun Yuan’s reputation was largely confined to his own school.

His slender fingers gripped a gel pen, gliding across the page. Ten minutes passed; most students had left, yet Yun Yuan continued with his work.

A delicate fragrance, unique to young women, drifted past. Yun Yuan assumed it was a female classmate who had forgotten something and returned. He kept his head down, focused on his writing.

“Xinyao, I told you—the boys in the first-year division are still innocent little freshmen. Now you believe me, don’t you?” A girl’s voice came from nearby, laughter trailing her words.

The girl addressed as “Xinyao” sat on Yun Yuan’s left. Yun Yuan looked up and saw a fair, delicate face, clear eyes meeting his gaze, lips pressed gently together, a faint smile at the corners.

He glanced at her—perhaps because of his youth, Yun Yuan merely thought this “Xinyao” was prettier than most girls he had met, but nothing more. He soon bowed his head again, returning to his work.

“My name is Li Xinyao, freshman. What’s yours?” she introduced herself.

“Is there something you need? You must know who I am, or you wouldn’t have come looking,” Yun Yuan replied, not particularly gentlemanly, but instead posing his own question. Clearly, he wanted them to state their purpose.

September 1, 2019.

Sunday, five o’clock in the morning.

Anji City, Xijiang Province. Shui J County, Yangshi Residential Complex, Building 15, Unit 1, Apartment 502.

Three years of middle school—over a thousand days that felt like purgatory—and finally, Luo Wen had secured an acceptance letter to an elite city high school.

Today was September first, the first day of registration at Anji City No.1 High School. Luo Wen woke up early; in the afternoon, his parents would accompany him to Anji City.

He picked up the watch from his bedside table. 4:59.

Luo Wen had stopped setting alarms a year ago. At first, he set an alarm for five every morning and was always woken by its ring in his first year. By his second year, he sometimes woke before it; in his third year, he stopped using an alarm altogether—partly because his biology teacher had covered biological clocks in class.

So, throughout his third year, Luo Wen woke at exactly 4:59 every day. Punctually.

His middle school was the best in Shui J County, but for a boy who’d grown up in the county and attended one of only two middle schools—the better one at that—there wasn’t much to boast about. A fifty-fifty chance.

Luo Wen recalled three years before, when he had just begun middle school, how delighted he’d been. His mother hadn’t known much about it, so every time she took him out and met acquaintances, she’d proudly announce her son attended the top school in the county.

Over time, Luo Wen had grown embarrassed by the attention.

After washing up—his parents always woke after six—he knew there was no need to say goodbye. They were well aware that Luo Wen left at five each morning to exercise.

He grabbed twenty yuan from the coffee table in the living room, switched off the lights, slipped the bill into his right pocket, and left the house, fully dressed.

Since the start of his third year, Luo Wen had risen at five to train. Each morning, his mother would leave twenty yuan on the coffee table so he could buy breakfast after his workout.

Today was no different. He left the complex at a quarter past five. Though it was already September, dawn had yet to break. The residential lights would come on at four in the afternoon, go out at midnight, and not illuminate again until 5:30.

At this hour, Luo Wen could only rely on his memory of the complex’s layout and the stray glow from windows left unintentionally lit by some residents.

His home in Yangshi Complex was bought by his parents fifteen years ago, at their marriage—a 120-square-meter apartment with three bedrooms and two living rooms. Back then, commercial apartments didn’t have the hefty twenty-four percent shared-area deduction common in 2019. Luo Wen didn’t know the exact shared area of his own place, but it was small.

He often heard his grandfather say they’d paid only three to four hundred a square meter back then; including renovations, the total came to fifty thousand yuan. Today, it would fetch no less than a million, especially since their unit was a highly sought-after, double-aspect apartment with only two homes per landing.

Leaving through the main gate, which had no guard at this hour, Luo Wen nimbly vaulted the gate’s railing, stepped onto the road, and kept walking straight.

The streetlights shone brightly, yet only served to show how deep the night’s darkness still was.

September marked the most pronounced shift into autumn. In the country, this month included two of the twenty-four solar terms: “White Dew” and “Autumn Equinox.” After White Dew, temperatures across most regions began to cool.

As autumn set in, cold air from the north clashed with the waning summer warmth, bringing frequent rain, a sharp drop in temperature, and marked differences between day and night. Walking on the open road, Luo Wen, dressed only in a short-sleeved shirt, stuffed his hands into his pockets against the chill.

At an intersection, the pedestrian signal glowed red, but Luo Wen paid it no heed. At this hour, what cars could there be? He strode straight across.